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The New World
Arms Market

By

Kenneth R. Timmerman

Updated April 3, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--The world's arms market is changing rapidly, as old suppliers lose ground and new ones come onto the scene. Gone are the bad old days of the Cold War, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union established spheres of influence, arming allies and proxies to achieve a strategic balance, while other suppliers struggled just to stay alive. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the dramatic proliferation of weapons-manufacturing technology to countries such as China, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, Croatia and Iran, new competitors are now emerging that are willing to sell anything to anyone,...